I just called to say
by PikaSass
Summary: Short AAML fluff I wrote to distract myself. It's in Ash's POV after Misty leaves and I don't really have a lot to say after that, lol. Just fluffy twerpshipping stuff! Yay!


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon.

A/N: Okay, it's been a couple of days since I was told it was confirmed Misty is leaving (and to be told the day my team got in the semis, geez, talk about conflicting emotions) so I am now in a writing mood. Go figure, lol. Anyways, this is done in Ash's POV, which is something I don't really do a lot but oh well, it should turn out alright. It's also all in present tense which was hard to do, I'm so used to writing in past. I'll stop rambling for now, sorry sorry, read on!

Midnight. A witching hour, the hour when calendars progress another day forward. The hour I am still lying here, awake and my thoughts wandering aimlessly around my mind. The ground I am sleeping on is of little comfort to my conflicts and my companions are fast asleep near me. They're lost in a slumber world I would be grateful to stumble across at this time. But no, my thoughts keep my eyes open in a battle for sleep that I am losing.

I turn over on my side and sigh at the unfamiliarity of a situation I have been stuck in these past few months. I couldn't prevent what happened, nor did I try to, for I was possibly too stupid or just burying my head in the sand about what was going on. I'd go for the latter, since the news secretly tweaked a nerve in my heart but I promptly ignored it. 

Love is something I never really thought about until I was forced to. Well, I wouldn't say forced to, it was more like I realised that I actually _was _in love with her. But of course, as most things in my life go about, it was too late for me to voice this or even slightly indicate it. 

I roll on my side and gaze at Kimi, sleeping peacefully with no apparent troubles keeping her awake as they are for me. Maybe she was just like me. Maybe she had her own conflicts that eroded her mind when she let herself think about them. Then again, maybe I was just scrambling for an excuse not to feel the way I do. As in, I'm currently blaming myself for letting Misty leave the way she did. 

There are so many what ifs constantly running laps in my psyche. What if I told her? What if she knocked me down and saw it as a better excuse to leave? What if she felt the same way I did?

That last one hurt more than anything else. It kills me to think that she could've mirrored my feelings and everything could've been different. There'd be something worthwhile about my travels instead of this constant obligation cloud I feel looming over me. I _have _to try harder. I _have _to beat Gary. I _have _to win this badge and get that much further up the rankings.

I bring it upon myself and then I hate myself for doing so, because I know that this isn't really what I want anymore. It possibly could be if she was still here but she's not, and I no longer feel the need to satisfy the girl who, in a bizarre way, kept me going through her insults and threats.

I smile to myself, my eyes still vacantly staring at Kimi. I miss Misty's mallet, which is a statement I never thought I would make. I miss her eyes which were as intense as she could be in her more serious moments. I miss her wise cracks and her messy hairstyle and her fickle attitude…

Hell, I miss _her_. 

Kimi…well, I'm not one of those guys who gets over one girl and moves on to the next with the ease of a professional circus act. Kimi is nice, don't get me wrong. She has ambitions and dreams like the rest of us, she has a smile that would knock most guys off their feet. But she doesn't have a mallet or red hair or eyes that matched her name.

She's not Misty and therefore she won't do. 

This is crazy. I cannot sit here and compare two totally different girls when I _know_ for a fact that I am completely head-over-heels about one and just good mates with the other. I tear my gaze away from Kimi and stare at the natural ceiling of stars. It's amazing to think that those tiny, magical, sometimes romantic dots are really fireballs of gas burning millions of miles away. Sort of like how I feel about Misty. I picked a fight with her for the hell of it but miles away from all that I loved her…

God, I have to do something. If it's midnight here then it would be eight at night in Cerulean. The gym would be closed and no apparent distractions would make an appearance. Sighing in a mingle of confused emotions, I stand up and grab my cellphone before walking away from the camp.

Tap tap tap, tap out the numbers I've memorized, wait impatiently for the ringing to cease, totally screw up any sort of greeting I might've had planned.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Her voice freezes the words in my throat and I hurriedly thaw them out with a gulp of nervousness.

"M-Misty" I stutter. "Hi." 

"Ash? Is that you?" she asks in what seems to be disbelief. I finally find myself grasping onto my regular composure and smile easily, as if she's standing right in front of me.

"Yeah. Just thought I'd call, you know, see what's up" I say casually.

"Um, wow" Misty slightly laughs. What does that mean? She's happy about the call? She's running through excuses to leave the phone? 'Um' can mean so many things and tonight it was the most uncomfortable word I could be greeted with. And then she laughed… "Ash it's been, what, three months?" Oh thank God. She's only surprised by the length of time. Still, I have to answer through my overwhelming relief that she isn't unhappy I called.

"Three months and four days" I say a little too quickly. Yeah Ash, that didn't sound desperate at all. But instead of a customary insult I hear another laugh traveling through my ears.

"So you've been keeping count too."

My heart nearly malfunctions at her words. Too? She's keeping count _too_?! I hold in a surprised inhalation of the chilly air around me and instead answer as calmly as I possibly can.

"Uh, yeah." Real calm huh? 

"Well you wanna know what's up? At the moment I am sitting here watching re-runs of 'Dharma and Greg.' So all in all, nothing at all is up. How about you? Where are you anyways?" she suddenly asks.

"Olivine City" I reply.

"Ah, cool. It must be…" There's a pause as she, possibly, checks her watch. "Midnight? What are you doing up at midnight?!" she shrieks.

"Talking to you."

"No kidding, but seriously, shouldn't you be asleep? You always wiped yourself out if you stayed up late and were traveling the next day. I thought you would've learnt by now" Misty says.

"Can't sleep. I dunno, I'm just restless."

"Restless or suffering the wrath of Brocko's snoring?" Misty giggles. I laugh with her at the description of our traveling buddy's well-known sleeping trait.

"Nah just restless. A lot's going on up in my head" I answer.

"That would be a first." God, I can almost hear her grinning. In turn a smile creeps across my face in an unusual reaction to the crack. I'd usually counter with something equally damaging but things are different now. Too different. I never wanted it like this but now…

"So how are things at the gym?" I ask casually.

"Busy" Misty sighs. "If we're not performing we're battling, and the battling is usually always left up to me. To tell you the truth, I…" She trails off and I raise an eyebrow in confusion, even though she can't see me. 

"What? Mist, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's okay. It's just that I never really wanted to come back here, you know? I loved traveling with you guys, there was something new every day, there was no routine or obligations or schedule. It was all spontaneous and now I'm here, stuck with routine which is just so boring" Misty explains. 

"Really? I thought you were all for routine, the way you ordered me to wake up or we'd be late for something" I point out.

"No, I was all for punctuality. If we had to be somewhere then I wanted to be there on time. Isn't that reasonable?" Misty says. 

"I suppose so. Kimi likes routine" I mutter.

"Kimi." Misty repeats the word flatly and I cringe. Maybe I shouldn't have brought her up. They had only briefly met in Viridian City before Misty left and I had no idea how she felt towards her. 

"Uh, yeah" I reply awkwardly.

"How are things between you two then?" Misty asks.

"What?!" I exclaim in surprise. "Between us? There is nothing between us. She just wants company while she's on her journey."

"Uh-huh. Right" Misty says, her tone still flat. "Well I better go Ash, my sisters are washing up and I'm sitting here being a lazy ass -"

"Misty wait" I interrupt. "What were you talking about just then?"

"Isn't it obvious, Ash? She had eyes only for you. Now I know you're dense, but I didn't think you were _that_ dense. She was hanging off your every word."

"Don't be ridiculous, she was not. Besides, I know for a fact it's not me she's after." This is true. I guess I feel flattered by the fact that she's confided in me about her feelings towards Brock but I have to wonder if I should've returned the words with my own concerning Misty. No one knows, not even Brock, though I sometimes get the feeling he has a sixth sense about these kinda things. You wouldn't think it, after the endless pursuits for girls who reject him at the first uttering of words, but the way he keeps asking me if I've called Misty or written to her is starting to freak me out. Was that a catalyst for this call? No, I know exactly what the catalyst is.

"You mean she…" Misty bursts out laughing after she figures it out and is still giggling when she next speaks. "I can't believe it. You do mean Brock, right?"

"Yup. She is apparently attracted to his rugged good looks and natural sense of humor." This, of course, only results in more laughs from the girl I love.

"Wow. Does Brock know?"

"Nah, I've been sworn to secrecy concerning him. I don't think she'll mind me telling you, considering you're thousands of miles away." My voice fades at the last couple of words. Thousands of miles away from me and my feelings that invisibly surround me every moment of the day and night. There's a short silence after this sentence and Misty clears her throat to somewhat break the ice.

"Ash? I really better go. This is costing you a lot of money" she says quietly.

"No it's not" I say quickly, although I know it is costing a small fortune. 

"Don't be silly, I know how much those cellphone calls cost long distance. I don't want to be the reason for your impending poverty" Misty says.

"I want you to be." Oh my God. That sentence didn't even linger in my mind before it sprung out. It had a mind of its own and was now going to cause an unknown outcome in terms of Misty's reaction. The silence slowly twists my heart into a frantically beating appendage of uncertainty as I wait for her to speak.

"Ash…um, did you just -"

"Please don't go. I watched you go once, I don't wanna go through it again." Dammit, there goes those uncontrollable sentences again. Shut up Ash, just shut up…

"I'll have to go sooner or later" Misty nearly whispers. Her voice had faded to a mere whimper and I have to wonder why. I've probably scared her.

"Make it later."

"Why? Is there a point? We've caught up, we know what's going on in each other's lives, what more is there to say? I don't want to talk about memories because that only makes this harder" Misty says forcefully.

"There is more to say." How impersonal of me to declare this over a phone, but I guess I have to make the best of a bad situation. My mind races, wondering if there is a point to what I'm about to say. She's in another country for God's sake, I won't be seeing her anytime soon. Still, I know my heart can't really contain this much longer without exploding in frustration.

"Ash? Are you there?" Misty prompts me when the silence grows too long and I nod before realizing she can't see me. 

"Uh, yeah, I'm here. Um, Mist, I know this is gonna sound so stupid or naïve or whatever, it's probably gonna scare you into reclusion so you never have to face me again, but I love you." Before I can realise what the hell is up with me, my words take over my common sense. "I love you so much, I'm such an idiot for letting you go and I sit here every night kicking myself for doing that. That's what keeps me restless and awake and you -"

"Ash! Slow down would ya?" Misty half-laughs but I detect a trace of nervousness in her voice. I'm not surprised. My words have probably sent her reeling, looking for even more excuses to hang up. "So you just called to say you love me?" The jest in her voice if half-relieving half-terrifying.

"I guess…" I mumble. I hear her sigh before she speaks.

"Really? Ash that's…wow." She seems breathless now, as though it's finally setting in that I'm not kidding or suffering a temporary lapse of sanity. "You love me? As in, you're _in _love with me?"

"Yes" I say dejectedly. I've seen this on T.V. Right now she's stalling so she can somehow gently break it to me that she's on the complete opposite side of my feelings. It's at this point I hear my cellphone beep, indicating that the battery's nearing its last breaths. "My cellphone's gonna -"

"I love you too, Ash. Call me the minute that cellphone is recharged. I love you, I love you, I love -" The cellphone's death interrupts her angelic voice and I stare straight ahead in disbelief. Was she kidding around with me? Did she really say that or was that a fragment of my distorted imagination? But her voice is still ringing in my ears as only a memory now and I know that she wasn't kidding. 

Grinning in ecstasy, giddiness, a million different things, I run back to the camp site and falter when I realise I can't charge the phone up until we get somewhere with electricity. The Pokémon Center would be closed and most of the residents of Olivine, a couple of miles south of our set up, would be asleep. 

But I'm still smiling. Why? Because now I can stay awake in anticipation of hearing those words from her instead of staying awake at the thought of never hearing her say anything again. The fears have gone to be replaced with an emotion I'm still getting a handle on, an emotion that takes time for me to decipher, but one thing's for sure.

I'm gonna run up such a huge phone bill in the coming days. 

A/N: I had to write something fluffy. I HAD TO! I was so upset when I was told it was confirmed. And I said I'd never actually have a fic with Kimi in it but oops, it happened. Eeek! Well it's done, I wrote that very quickly in between a lot of cursing so I'm quite glad it didn't turn out to be an angst, lol! Review if you've got the time or the urge, I love all comments (yes, even the flames) and remember - AAML _is _forever. We can keep it alive! Yay! (I sound like such a loony, lol!)


End file.
